Today I’m making delicious smoked sausage with a little bit of heat and a lot of flavor; Jalapeno Kielbasa!
I like making my own sausages because I’m very picky about what’s in them AND my desired heat levels are a bit higher than most.
But this recipe is for just about everyone. I’d rate the heat level at about a 3 or 4.
I like to keep everything as cold as possible while making sausage so before I start, I put my 2 bowls and all the pieces of the meat grinder in the freezer.
For the Jalapeno kielbasa I use a bone in pork shoulder.
First I mix the insta-cure #1 and kosher salt into 2 cups cold water and place it in the refrigerator for later.
I debone the pork shoulder and cube the meat into pieces that will easily go down the meat grinders throat (about 3×3 inches for mine) Then place the cubed meat into one of the cold bowls from the freezer.
Once I’m finished cubing, I put the whole bowl into the freezer while I clean the prep area or about 20 minutes. This will keep the fat in the pork from smearing while grinding it.
I’ve found that a ratio of 80/20 or 70/30 meat to fat ratio makes a nice juicy sausage and I just eyeball the ratio while I’m cubing it up.
Next I assemble the grinder using the parts from the freezer and run the chilled meat thru the 3/8 grinder plate and into the second cold bowl from the freezer. This will make a coarse grind on the meat but once its fully cooked it will have a smoother texture. Then I put that bowl back into the freezer while I clean the grinder parts up.
I then take the cold meat and mix in the seasoning and the curing mixture from the refrigerator.
It will seem runny a first but as you continue to mix, it will tighten up nicely.
I like to let the mixture cure overnight in the refrigerator.
Then stuff the sausage in natural casings.
Once I’ve stuffed the sausage in the casings I hang them in my (preheated to °130) smoker for the first hour with the dampers wide open. This drys the casings out so they will accept the smoke better.
I then raise the temperature to °150 and smoke the sausages for the second hour. Then raise the temperature to °160 for the third hour and then to °175 for the fourth hour. Then raise the temperature to °200 and smoke until the internal temperature of the sausage hits °153-°155. My smoker usually takes about 5-7 hours to complete the cycle depending on the outside temperature and humidity.
I then dunk the sausages in a 5 gallon bucket of ice water reducing the temperature to about °100 and then place them on a blooming rack at room temperature for about an hour or so. The sausages will turn a nice deep red color when they’re ready to eat!
Heres the recipe:
MILD JALAPENO KIELBASA
5 LB pork shoulder
1 T white sugar
1 T garlic powder
1 T ground mustard
5 tsp ground Jalapeno
powder
1-1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 C dry powdered milk
**2 Cups cold water with 1 teaspoon insta-cure #1 and 7 teaspoons of kosher salt fully dissolved**
As with any recipe it’s fun to modify to your own liking. If you use this recipe, have comments or questions, please let me know.
Thanks!
Chris Burchfield
This sounds amazing!!! Thank you for your recipe!